1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, especially, to an intermediate board electrical connector to connect connectors arranged at right angles to each other. This intermediate board electrical connector is referred to as a right angle connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
The connector of this type is known, for example, by a disclosure in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-6823. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in this publicly known connector 50, a plurality of circuit boards 52 are inserted and arranged in a rectangular pipe housing 51 so as to be parallel to each other. Each circuit board 52 has its front edge located in the front opening of the housing, while its back portion protrudes from the backside of the housing 51 and has its bottom edge at the same level as the lower surface of the housing. Line patterns or conductors 53A, 53B, 53C, 53D are provided on a surface of the circuit board 52 by printed wiring. Those line patterns respectively connect to connection sections 54A, 54B, 54C, 54D at the front edge of the circuit board 52, while those line patterns respectively connect to leg-shaped connection sections 55A, 55B, 55C, 55D at the bottom edge of the circuit board 52.
At the time of use, the connection sections 55A, 55B, 55C, 55D are connected with their corresponding circuit sections on a circuit board (not illustrated) via soldering or the like. The connector to be connected (not illustrated) is first brought to engage, and then connected with the connection sections 54A, 54B, 54C, 54D. By doing this, the circuit board connects with the other connector, which is located vertically to the circuit board, via the connector 50. For using this connector 50 for high-speed transmission, however, delay of signal is occurred due to the different transmission path lengths of line patterns 53A, 53B, and 53C, 53D.
To provide such right angle connector which has same transmission path length, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-85938 suggests the one as illustrated in the accompanied figure, FIG. 6. The connector illustrated in FIG. 6 has a plurality of parallel contacts 63, which connect to carriers 61, 62 which are parallel to each other. After covering both surfaces of those contacts 63 with a flexible thin insulating sheet material 64, the contacts 63 and the insulating sheet material are bent along a 45xc2x0 line 65 with respect to the contacts 63, and overlaid. Thereafter, the contacts 63 are supported by an L-shape molded supporting material between the sheet material 64 and the carriers 61, 62. Then, the carriers 61, 62 are separated from the contacts 63 at the positions 66, 67. By doing this, all the contacts have same length, and are L-shaped so as to form the right angle connector.
Even in the connector of FIG. 6, however, there are some problems. First, since the thin insulating material is selected for its bending, even the prepared connector still has low rigidity and is difficult to handle. Also, since the contact is formed by bending, the contact could be broken during a process or use. The process of preparing the contacts is troublesome because it includes process of adhering them to an insulating sheet and bending them together with the insulating sheet, and even it further includes a mold forming process. Although both surfaces of each contact are covered with the insulating sheet, it is still not preferable for its electrical properties to have a partially overlapping structure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an intermediate board electrical connector which can be easily prepared, easily handled, and is superior in electrical properties.
On the intermediate board electrical connector of the present invention, a plurality of connection sections are provided on at least one side of a circuit board, such that the connection sections are arranged with specified intervals along two straight edges, which are not parallel to each other. Those connection sections along one edge are connected to the corresponding connection sections along the other edge via line patterns or conductors, and the contact sections along each edge can be respectively connected with other connector.
In the present invention, the intermediate board electrical connector is featured by having same length of line patterns. According to the present invention of such constitution, since the plurality of line patterns of the intermediate board electrical connector has same length, the transmission path lengths between the corresponding connection sections are all the same; therefore it is ideal for high-speed transmission. In the present invention, the two straight edges, which are not parallel to each other, can be substantially vertical to each other. In many cases, two connectors are connected in substantially vertical positions. Also, one of the two straight edges is made to protrude outward than the other straight edge, so that the connector has a widthwise part and lengthwise part. According to this structure, the device, in which the connector is used, can be made small, especially it can be made to be lower-profile.